Danger Zone 1: Not At His Best
by Higuchimon
Summary: Daisuke really should've stayed at home, with that cold he has. But he couldn't resist the chance to blow up a few Dark Towers. Now the Kaiser is there, and his best hope to get out of this is Hikari.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Not At His Best  
 **Characters:** Daisuke, Hikari, Ken  
 **Friendship:** Daisuke  & Hikari  
 **Word Count:** chapter 1: 1,000||story: 1,000  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** G  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section D9, a threeshot; Written for the 2015 Advent Challenge, day #3, write about a friendship; One Friendship Boot Camp, #24, sick  
 **Summary:** Daisuke really should've stayed at home, with that cold he has. But he couldn't resist the chance to blow up a few Dark Towers. Now the Kaiser is there, and his best hope to get out of this is Hikari.

* * *

"Did you just sneeze?" Hikari eyed Daisuke thoughtfully. She knew what she'd heard. He'd tried to hide it, but she'd heard it anyway.

He put on the brightest smile that he could and shook his head. "Nope! I'm fine!" He rubbed the back of his head and grinned at her. "Come on, let's get those towers down!"

This area had two of them; why, no one could figure out, except that the Kaiser liked to put up towers and probably figured the more, the better. Hikari didn't pretend to understand how Ichijouji Ken thought. Their job was just to ruin all of these things and remove his influence from the area.

At least for now. It would one day be their job to stop him completely, but they weren't in a position to do that yet. Hikari looked forward to it. All of this fighting wasn't what the Digital World was meant for.

She started to get on Nefertimon's back, when once again she heard that stifled sneeze, and turned to look at Daisuke. He grinned a bit ruefully at her from where he'd been ready to get on Lighdramon.

"Um, dust in my nose? That's all?" He sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than her. Hikari set her hands on her hips.

"You didn't have to come if you're sick." Partly she thought he'd be better off at home if he had a cold. Partly she couldn't help but wonder what that might do to the Digital World. She'd been sick here once and that hadn't done anything, but the days of the Dark Masters were different from now.

She also didn't like the idea of what the Kaiser might do if he saw Daisuke wasn't at his best. Even if their enemy hadn't done much since the finding of the Digimental of Friendship, no one thought he'd given up or that he wasn't watching them somehow. Watching Daisuke most of all, more than likely.

But he just waved it off, as he always did. "I'm really fine! It's nothing. You don't have to worry about me." He grinned at her. "But if you want to, I won't mind!"

She laughed at that. "Well, let's get these towers taken care of and then we can go back home." Besides, she didn't want to catch a cold from him anyway. Nor did she want anyone else to catch it. Who knew what the Kaiser would do if they were all sick.

Soon enough the tower crumbled underneath the combined attacks of Nefertimon and Lighdramon. Hikari patted her partner on the shoulder. "Good work!"

"Thank you," Nefertimon purred. How she could do that when she wasn't Tailmon, Hikari didn't know. But she did it anyway. They started back toward the ground, with Hikari thinking no more thoughts than if Daisuke would like some tea with honey in it. Her mother had always used that when she'd caught a cold. It didn't always work, but it tasted good, at least.

Nefertimon stopped for a moment in the air, and Hikari started to ask what was wrong. Then she saw it: Daisuke leaned hard against Lighdramon, coughing.

What made it even worse was that she could see something Daisuke would miss at his angle: a group of Digimon coming toward them, and riding majestically at the lead, the Kaiser himself, radiating rage.

 _Could this get any worse?_ Hikari decided it would be better not to ask that out loud. With the Kaiser in the area, he would probably work on making certain that it did.

* * *

Daisuke slowly managed to stop his coughing. He _hated_ getting sick. It didn't happen a lot; Motomiyas were tough like that. He knew for a fact that when Jun got sick, she was the absolute worst patient ever. He'd had to put up with that over the summer when she'd sprained her ankle. Well, that wasn't being sick, but it was close enough for him.

Anyway, he did have a cold, no matter how much he tried to convince Hikari that he didn't. There was no way he was going to miss coming to the Digital World and stomping down on all the towers that they could. They needed to do this! He wasn't going to let some stupid cold get in the way.

And he hadn't. One tower down, one more to go, and then he could go home and get some sleep.

He hated being sick most of all because when he _got_ sick, it was like the germs made up for all the other times they couldn't get to him. He didn't think that he could remember anything that they'd talked about in class that day, and not because he hadn't been paying attention. All that really sunk in was that they were going to go to the Digital World and annoy the Kaiser.

That always made him feel better. Even now, as his throat cleared a little, he could imagine the fury on the Kaiser's face when he saw the damage that they'd caused. That _Daisuke_ caused.

"Motomiya Daisuke." He could practically hear Ken's voice! Ever since finding out Ken and the Kaiser were the same person, Daisuke took an especial pleasure in wrecking everything that the Kaiser had done. It made him feel better for having been tricked like that.

The sudden snap of a whip and Lighdramon nudging him brought Daisuke's mind into full focus on what was going on around him. The Kaiser stood a handful of steps away from him, with an army of enslaved Digimon all around. And the look on his face was exactly what Daisuke had imagined.

Only he'd rather imagined it being a lot farther away and not right here ready to strangle him.

He put on his best grin. "Hey there, _Ken_!" The Kaiser lived in a constant state of being angry at him. What could he do to make it worse? Sneeze on him?

Sounded like a good idea, anyway.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Not At His Best  
 **Characters:** Daisuke, Hikari, Ken  
 **Friendship:** Daisuke  & Hikari  
 **Word Count:** chapter 2: 1,000||story: 2,000  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** G  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section D9, a threeshot; Written for the 2015 Advent Challenge, day #3, write about a friendship; One Friendship Boot Camp, #24, sick  
 **Summary:** Daisuke really should've stayed at home, with that cold he has. But he couldn't resist the chance to blow up a few Dark Towers. Now the Kaiser is there, and his best hope to get out of this is Hikari.

* * *

"You never learn, do you, Motomiya?" Kaiser ran his hand over his whip, staring at Daisuke in much the same way that a starving man stared at the meal of his dreams. Daisuke decided he really didn't like the idea of being stared at like someone wanted to eat him. Especially when that someone was the Kaiser, of all people.

"My teachers keep telling me the same thing. So does my sister. So it's not like you've uncovered anything new," Daisuke shot back, a grin splaying over his features.

It wasn't Lighdramon getting in front of Daisuke that stopped Kaiser from striking at Daisuke with his whip. Instead, Nefertimon's attack blasted in between them. Daisuke fell back, grabbing for his partner, and just managing to swing onto his back. It wasn't the best grip that he had, but it would keep him on there, for now, anyway.

"Come on, Daisuke!" Hikari shouted, waving at him from up in the air. "We need to get back with the others!"

He wasn't going to argue about that. He still thought he could take the Kaiser if he actually had to. Ken wasn't all _that_ impressive. Daisuke had taken him down once before… technically twice. He could do it again.

But right now, given that he wasn't at all at his best, it was probably a better idea to get out of there. Discretion being the better part of valor, or so he'd heard. He didn't think he believed it, but maybe once in a while it made a difference.

Lighdramon forged ahead and Daisuke tossed a glance over his shoulder, meaning to throw out a triumphant comment or two at the Kaiser's definitely outraged face. All of his comments were ripped away from him as the Kaiser's whip wrapped around his waist and there was an almighty jerk and by every law of motion that Daisuke had ever _heard_ of, Kaiser should've ended up on his face, being dragged along by Daisuke and Lighdramon.

Instead, Daisuke found himself hauled off of his partner, slamming his shoulder on the ground, sending a large sharp slice of pain from his shoulder to his fingertips. The first thought through his mind was something on the level of _that hurts!_. The second was wondering if he'd actually broken or sprained something.

The third was the Kaiser had just grabbed onto his shirt and he looked even angrier up close and personal than he ever had before.

"It's rude to go running off from someone in the middle of a conversation," Kaiser hissed, hands tight and strong on Daisuke's shirt. Daisuke already knew today wasn't his day. From the look in the Kaiser's eyes, though, it was _his_ , and he was going to enjoy it thoroughly.

* * *

Hikari didn't really tend to swear, no matter how surprised she was. But when she looked back down at Daisuke's cry of pain and shock, she kind of wished that she was the type to do so. It wouldn't have accomplished much, but it still would've done something to express what she felt right then.

Not only had Kaiser dragged Daisuke off of Lighdramon, but now the two of them were surrounded by Kaiser's minions. She could even spy a small fleet of flying Digimon hurrying to get in between her and them, preventing her from diving down and pulling Daisuke out of there.

She couldn't even be certain if she could do that to start with. She could heft more than a pillow, but Daisuke had a respectable amount of muscle on him. If she had Takeru or Miyako with her, then they could do it together. But they were still off blowing Towers up.

 _Well, I know that's fun and all, but I think this is a little more important._ She had Nefertimon back up, keeping in the same general area, while she pulled out her D-Terminal.

The first thing she saw was a cheerful message from Miyako, wanting to know if she and Daisuke were done yet, since she and Takeru were, and they would be shortly heading for the rendezvous point.

 _Not really. We got sidetracked. Kaiser showed up and he's trying to drag Daisuke away. I could use a little help. I'm kind of outnumbered here._ She made certain to send it to Miyako, Takeru, and Iori. The more help they could get, the faster they'd get this all wrapped up.

She took another look down. Kaiser had shoved Daisuke to the ground now, grinding one foot into his back. Daisuke's hands clutched at the dirt, and while she couldn't get a good look at his face because of the position he was in, she could hear choked off cries of pain.

 _This has to stop._ AirDramon and Devidramon remained between her and Kaiser and Daisuke. Hikari did not care.

"Let's see if we can get some of those Spirals off, Nefertimon," Hikari said, crouching low over her partner's shoulders and getting a better grip. Lighdramon circled underneath them, snapping at some of the Spirals on the Digimon near him. He wanted to get to Daisuke, but until they were out of the way, he was out of luck.

* * *

Kaiser enjoyed causing pain to others. He especially enjoyed making Motomiya Daisuke hurt, because Daisuke had hurt _him_ before. So now he ground Motomiya under his boot, thrilling to the cries of pain. This was almost as good as seeing Motomiya kneel before him.

He'd liked that so much, he'd decided he wanted to see it on a regular basis. It was much like having a particular work of art one enjoyed hanging on the wall, only better.

Of course, Motomiya would need to learn to kneel properly, to not try to get away, and to obey Kaiser's every word. But Kaiser knew he could teach him. It would take a little effort, but it would be worth it in the end.

He pressed down harder and smiled at all those cries. Today really _was_ his day.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Not At His Best  
 **Characters:** Daisuke, Hikari, Ken  
 **Friendship:** Daisuke  & Hikari  
 **Word Count:** chapter 1: 1,000||story: 3,000  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** G  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section D9, a threeshot; Written for the 2015 Advent Challenge, day #3, write about a friendship; One Friendship Boot Camp, #24, sick  
 **Summary:** Daisuke really should've stayed at home, with that cold he has. But he couldn't resist the chance to blow up a few Dark Towers. Now the Kaiser is there, and his best hope to get out of this is Hikari.

* * *

One thing Daisuke liked about their adventures in the Digital World was that he'd never had a bruise or a cut or anything that he couldn't explain to his parents and Jun as something he'd picked up at soccer practice or playing around with his friends. Most of the time by the time they saw him in the evening anyway, he'd managed to cover up whatever had happened.

Tonight he wasn't going to be that lucky. Tonight he was going to have to find a way to explain the huge bruises on his shoulders and back where he'd hit the ground after Kaiser yanked him off Lighdramon, not to mention whatever showed up from the quick punch Kaiser put him down on the ground again with.

He thought about those bruises and how to hide them instead of how much it hurt that Kaiser ground him down onto the ground. He choked on dirt, writhing underneath the heavy foot, jerking back and trying hard to get up and failing. Kaiser didn't weigh much more than he did, but he knew just how to keep Daisuke down on his stomach.

"I think we've had enough fun times here," Kaiser growled close to his ear, hand tightening suddenly on Daisuke's neck. "Come on, Motomiya. I'm taking you home with me."

"I'm not some kind of a lost puppy!" Daisuke gasped as he was pulled to his feet, held tight against Kaiser. He could see Lighdramon facing him, which explained that move. Lighdramon wouldn't attack if he might hit Daisuke first.

Nor would Hikari; Daisuke could see her hovering in the air not that far away, right on Nefertimon's back. Her eyes flicked all around, but kept coming back to where he and Kaiser stood.

"I hope you've said all of your good-byes," Kaiser said, dragging Daisuke back step by step. Daisuke dug his feet into the ground, trying to slow him down at least a little. Every moment counted. "You won't see him around for a while and I doubt you'll recognize him if you do."

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," Daisuke snapped. Did Kaiser really think he was just going to let himself be dragged off without a fight? Even if every body part he owned ached – and most of them did, thanks to Kaiser's efforts earlier – he wasn't going to just bend his head and submit. He never would, even if Kaiser made off with him.

"What makes you think you can get away from me?" Kaiser asked, tightening his grip. "That little girl up there? She can't do anything. She can't even get close enough to do anything." His AirDramon hung in the sky between them, giving him more backup than Daisuke wanted. "And your partner's trapped too, just because I have you."

"You _don't_ have him!" Hikari shouted. "We're not going to let you get away with this!"

Daisuke could feel the Kaiser breathing in to speak, and he took a chance that could've meant his life if it went wrong. He rammed Kaiser's chest with one elbow, knocking the breath out of him, and pushing himself as far away as he could. He didn't waste any time doing anything else, but charged forward as fast as he could, aiming for Lighdramon.

"Motomiya!" Kaiser gasped his name and Daisuke ran even faster, telling himself he'd take a hot bath and forget all about this inside of an hour or two. As long as Kaiser didn't get his whip again, as long as he could get far enough away, as long as they could get the Rings and Spirals off of the slaves…

Crack of the whip. It fell short of grabbing him, but now a line of burning pain coursed down his back. Daisuke stumbled but recovered himself, mostly thanks to Lighdramon catching him in the nick of time.

Daisuke pulled himself up onto Lighdramon and looked up in time to see a miracle hovering there: Takeru and Pegasumon, Miyako and Holsmon now hung in the air beside Hikari and Nefertimon. With a spill of dirt and a cry of greeting, Iori and Digmon now stood beside him.

 _I'm safe,_ he breathed to himself. Whatever Kaiser's plans for the day were, they'd failed. He'd spend tonight at home, not in Kaiser's dungeons.

Kaiser glared at them all. "You want to keep him that much?"

"He's better company than you are!" Takeru retorted. "Now get out of here!"

Cold violet eyes, only barely visible, looked toward Daisuke with a possessiveness that sent chills all through him. "We'll meet again, Motomiya. Just you wait and see."

"You always have to have the last word, don't you?" Daisuke replied, holding himself up despite how tired and hurting he was. "You heard him. Get out of here."

Daisuke almost thought it wouldn't work, that Kaiser would produce something else to fight them. But one by one, he and all of his slaves melted out of sight. Daisuke let himself collapse over Lighdramon, catching his breath as best that he could.

Hikari's hand touched his shoulder and he looked up to smile at her. "Thanks," he murmured. If she hadn't called the others – and he knew she had to have done it – then he would've been a goner. "I owe you one."

"We can talk about that later," she promised. "Let's get you out of here."

Daisuke didn't have any arguments about that at all. Nor did he complain when Hikari and Takeru both rode next to him on their own partners, while Miyako rode the skies and Iori ranged ahead. Even if he'd had the strength to argue, he wouldn't have. He just wanted to go home, with his friends.

* * *

Kaiser watched them from a distance, furious. He would have his revenge. Not just on Motomiya, but on all of them that had stolen his prize from him. He would start with the girl, Yagami Hikari.

He toyed with an Evil Spiral, knowing just what to do. Revenge would be very sweet.

 **The End**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


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